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Saturday, May 12, 2018

The Unforgiving Tides by Ross Pennie, reviewed by Karen Payton

A while back, I attended a workshopabout writing memoirs. I met a writer named Ross
Pennie who shared his personal story of being a young, Canadian doctor on the
remote island of New Britain in Papua New Guinea. In his book, The
Unforgiving Tides, Pennie documents the two years he spent on the
island as a volunteer withCUSOhelping to cure and heal the varied ailments of the
local Indigenous peoples.

Based in the remote village of Kokopo, Pennie provided medical care at a
Catholic Mission hospital and worked under the severe and ever-present eye of a
German nun named Sister Permina. Working with only the barest of medical
essentials, and competing with island voodoo and bush medicine, Pennie
attempted to administer medical care to both a gentle and, at times, violent
and cannibalistic peoples.

Ross Pennie

Pennie’s writing is filled with
description creating vivid images that allow you to join him in the hospital
operating room or on a jungle trek to track down a source of typhoid
fever. He laments the pain of losing patients (particularly children) and
openly shares his frustration with hisattempts to provide even basic medical
care in a primitive environment.

The memoir ends leaving the reader
hanging—until you read the epilogue written by Pennie’s son. This felt
like an awkward shift in narration at first, but the epilogue provides
closure and points to a sense of serendipity in our world. I was left just a
little bit awestruck.

A recommended read if:

·You like creative, non-fiction

·You have considered doing
international volunteer work

·You’re at all interested in different
and remote cultures

Note: Ross Pennie will be the guest speaker at a Writing Your
Life and Other True Stories workshop, Saturday, June 23, in
Mississauga. Details here.

Karen Payton is a
freelance editor and writer. The majority of her time is spent editing
non-fiction and business publications but she does manage to carve out some
time for creative writing...and lots of reading! You can follow Karen on
Twitter here.

This
review was originally posted on Karen’s blog: The Two Minute Book Blog. Check
it out here.

Brian Henry has been a book editor, writer, and creative writing instructor for more than 25 years. He teaches creative writing at Ryerson University. He also leads weekly creative writing courses in Burlington, Mississauga, Oakville and Georgetown and conducts Saturday workshops throughout Ontario. His proudest boast is that he has helped many of his students get published.